Western Party Ideas (How to Organize Yours in 6 Simple Steps)

Mix a few Western party ideas to your party fun – and you’ll have everyone slapping leather and having a hoe down in no time.

And there’s plenty of modern-day inspiration to choose from.

The cowboy movie genre is still in vogue (like the 2012 film Django Unchained).

Boot-cut jeans, leather boots and big belt buckles are commonplace.

Modern singers like Kelly Clarkson and LeAnn Rimes have country roots.

So there’s no time like the present to start developing your Western party ideas. Here’s how to that in 6 simple steps.

Step 1, Western party ideas for invites

Create a Wanted poster — Find a photo of your main guest and copy it into a blank Microsoft Word document. Then use a free cowboy style font – like ‘Western Cowboys’ – for your party wording. Be creative with your wording – like:

“Wanted – For the most evil haircut ever!”
“Reward $100 – For being the best kisser ever!”

Print your invitations. Use a lighter to singe their edges very carefully, to give them an aged look.

Create a Cowboy Hat invite — Draw an outline on brown card, and cut. Choose one side for your party details. On the other, decorate it with a sheriff’s badge made of gold glitter.

Step 2, Ideas for fancy dress

Dressing up Wild West style is A LOT of fun.

There’s so much to draw from – for example, cowboy and westerns movies, country music, traditional cowboy history.

Cover your seating in fluffy brown and white throws, overlapping them to give the impression of cowhide

Dress up a rocking horse with its own saddle.

Step 4, Western party ideas for activities

Cowboy Movie Charades — Write your movie titles onto slips of paper, then jumble in a hat. A player pulls out a name and everyone must guess their movie. Your titles could include The Magnificent Seven, Brokeback Mountain and Wild, Wild West.

Cowboy Dancefloor — Get everyone on their feet with a cowboy disco. Start slapping leather to these sample tunes:

Jolene – Dolly Parton

Come Monday – Jimmy Buffett

Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Ray Cyrus

The River – Garth Brooks

I Don’t Feel Like Dancing – Scissor Sisters

Stand By Your Man – Tammy Wynette

Old West Slang Trivia Quiz — Draw up a trivia quiz of 20 questions, testing your guests on their knowledge. Give each question four answers (a, b, c, d) to make things harder.

For example, “Where do you go when you go to a ‘hoosegow’?"

Answer: “Jail".

Water Pistol Shooting Range — Use either a separate room in the house or your backyard for this activity. You’ll need a wall, 6 empty cans and water pistols. Work out how far away to put your fans by testing the firing range of your pistols.

You can make the cans harder to knock by weighing them down with golf balls. Split players into pairs, with the fastest to knock down all six winning.

When playing indoors, make sure you’ve got plenty of towels on the floor.

Show Classic Cowboy Shows — Play these in the background or later as a chillout activity with popcorn and taco/dips.

Learn Line Dancing — Get everyone learning the moves together of this classic dance. Here’s a step-by-step video to help you get started:

Step 5, Party ideas for food

Go with big traditional American western food here in your cowboy party menu. Here are a few ideas:

Steaks, fried chicken, wings

Corn on the cob, baked beans

Potato salad, popcorn

Tacos and chips with salsa dips

Homemade apple pie with ice cream

Serve root beer and American beer brands

Step 6, Western party favors

Send everyone back to the modern day with a few fun party favors, like: